Res. is about 8 gal.

It looks like your inlet adds nutrient at the top of the bucket and you have you drain set about 2" below that.If that is the case, you won't get very good aeration or nutrient distribution in each of your buckets.
The water that enters will simply go to the outlet and back to the primary reservoir. to get the entire buckets to recirculate make sure your inlet and outlet are on opposite sides. side to side AND top to bottom.
Maybe that is what you've got going on. I can't tell what the inside looks like, but its a very easy detail to overlook.
Very clean system though. it looks nice.

Thanks for your comments Grizzman. You may be right about the circulation. I extended the incoming line several inches into the bucket and the outgoing line has an elbow on the inside turned sideways to try to stop the water from short circuiting. This is very much a learning experience for me.

Looks good. Should really produce a lot for you. I was going to do something similar but ended up doing a drip system instead.

This post was edited by Jeff_H on Mon, Jun 3, 13 at 16:53

Hers is our set up modeled after the link below, he goes through the detailed instructions! Easy as pie!

Here is a link that might be useful: dutch bucket hydro tomatoes